Mitt Romney and Ken Cuccinelli: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Fight to Repeal ObamaCare

Mitt Romney’s impact on the elections in Virginia will be felt for a very long time at the state and national levels. Not only did Mitt Romney help Bob McDonnell become the Governor of Virginia in 2009, but he also helped another Republican win Virginia’s Attorney General’s office: Ken Cuccinelli.

In the final days of the 2009 elections in Virginia, Romney worked tirelessly to ensure a Republican landslide in Virginia:

The McDonnell campaign announced Friday that Romney will appear with the entire Republican ticket – McDonnell, Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling and Attorney General candidate Ken Cuccinelli – at a series of press conferences throughout the Commonwealth next week.

Mitt Romney appeared at a press conference and fundraiser in Virginia Beach on behalf of Bob McDonnell, Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling and Attorney General candidate Ken Cuccinelli.

Not only has Mitt Romney has been one of the early voices in calling for the repeal of ObamaCare, but he has also tirelessly supported others in their efforts to dismantle ObamaCare.  The significance of Romney’s endorsement of Ken Cuccinelli is important in light of yesterday’s news of U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson’s ruling in Virginia v Sebelius in which he declares that the federal mandate under ObamaCare “exceeds the Commerce Clause powers vested in Congress under Article I.” (p. 24) This holding came as a result of a liawsuit filed by Ken Cuccinelli, in February of 2010, against the federal government in order to defend the passage of Virginia’s Health Freedom Bill — which made it illegal to require individuals to purchase health insurance.

If you’re wondering what Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli thinks about the Constitutionality of RomneyCare, you can find out as you read the transcript of Cuccinelli’s appearance on CNN’s Parker/Spitzer show where the debate is on whether or not ObamaCare is constitutional under Congress’ authority to tax and spend:

SPITZER: That’s exactly what’s going on here. The dollars they’re being taxed – and this is a tax imposition by Congress are being used -

CUCCINELLI: What’s the tax? If I buy the health insurance, I don’t pay a penny.

SPITZER: Ken, what’s being taxed is that individuals are being said, told you must contribute to cover the cost of the $40 billion of health care that right now is not paid for, because individuals are uninsured. This is exactly the logic that Mitt Romney, the conservative Republican, embraced when he put his health care system in place in Massachusetts. You’re not saying that was unconstitutional, are you?

CUCCINELLI: Oh, come on, Eliot. Your viewers need to know, every state in the country could enact this federal health care bill in their state and it’s perfectly constitutional for a state to do it. It is the federal government that the Constitution restrains and limits the powers of, not the states.

SPITZER: Ken, the fallacy is that this is a tax, it is recognized as a tax, it is enforced by the IRS, it is imposed upon you as many taxes are, if you do not do something else. You’re trying to slip this in, call it a penalty. Frankly, I think it’s a distinction without a difference -

CUCCINELLI: Me, Congress called it a penalty in the bill.

SPITZER: When the Supreme Court looks at this, it will view this as a tax and say because this is a tax, Congress has the right to impose it, based upon certain triggers, triggers of things that people either do or don’t do.

Ken Cucinelli is right.  States are free to enact statewide mandates and such measures are constitutional.  Thus, RomneyCare is constitutional whereas ObamaCare is not.

As a side note: Unfortunately for Eliot Spitzer, Mr. Cuccinelli is vindicated by U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson who rejected the argument that ObamaCare is constitutional as a tax.

After analyzing the legislative intent of Congress, the Judge agreed with Mr. Cuccinelli. Despite the Obama Administration’s initial denial that it was a tax, they later tried to pass it off as a tax in an attempt to brand it ‘constitutional’. Ultimately, the Judge found that it was a penalty that was not linked to an enumerated power listed in the Constitution, such as the Commerce Clause or the Necessary and Proper Clause.

Because the case will now make its way to the Supreme Court, it means that the fight against ObamaCare isn’t over. We can count on Ken Cuccinelli to continue on with his fight against the disastrous federal mandate — one that Mitt Romney called “Obama’s Unconscionable Abuse of Power“. Thank you Governor Romney lending your support to such a competent leader!

~ Jared A.